- Andrew Lynch
REEL NEWS: AUGUST 24TH-AUGUST 31ST
Chadwick Boseman
Chadwick Boseman’s death dealt a gut punch to everyone last Saturday, after he lost the fight against colon cancer.
The Black Panther actor, was diagnosed back in 2016 with stage 4 cancer and kept it private from his colleagues, including Black Panther director Ryan Coogler.
He filmed, Captain America: Civil War, Message from the King, Marshall, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, 21 Bridges and the recent Da 5 Bloods all while undergoing treatment.
While devastating, it is a testament to the strength of the man, who fought through the cancer to give black audiences a hero who represents them on the big screen.
Boseman will live on through his powerful performances as iconic black figures including Jackie Robinson, in 42; James Brown in Get on Up; the first black US Supreme Court Judge, Thurgood Marshal in Marshall; and of course, T’Challa, the Black Panther.
He will be remembered like actors like Christopher Reeve, who so fully embodied the essence of their heroes that they became indistinguishable from them.
Chadwick was and always will be the King.
His death was felt all over, from public figures like Michelle Obama, Presidential candidate Joe Biden and every corner of Hollywood mourning the actor who “was the epitome of kindness, elegance, diligence and grace” and “knew what it meant to persevere”.
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler also released a statement that you can read here, in which he describes his journey with Boseman, who Coogler describes as “an epic firework display”.
Chadwick Boseman (1977-2020). Rest in Power.
The Haunting of Bly Manor
Netflix released the first images from The Haunting of Bly Manor, the follow-up to The Haunting of Hill House.
The images, exclusively debuted in Vanity Fair, show a period piece setting with the same eerie imagery that made Hill House such a hit.
The Haunting series is taking the anthology approach, similar to American Crime Story or American Horror Story, with Bly Manor being completely separate from the Hill House story.
Bly Manor is again from Mike Flanagan, and sees Victoria Pedretti, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel and Henry Thomas return, as different characters than in Hill House.
The series will also stars newcomers, T’Nia Miller, Tahirah Sharif, Amelia Eve and Rahul Kohli.
Much like Hill House, Bly Manor is based on another collection of classic literature, this time Henry James’, The Turn of the Screw, The Jolly Corner and The Romance of Certain Old Clothes.
Flanagan said in the interview, “It certainly provides a new way to tell a love story, and there are three of them that really beat the heart of this season”.
So relax everyone. There are going to be no ghosts and scares in this season, just three, sweet love stories. Just kidding.
“At its foundation, the Haunting series is very much about haunted spaces and haunted people” Flanagan said.
Much of the story details were kept under wraps but what was outlined is that the series will see an American abroad in the UK, take a tutor job at Bly Manor to teach the two children. Let the spooks begin.
The Haunting of Bly Manor will premiere on Netflix sometime between September-November.
Enola Holmes Trailer
After a brief teaser last week, a full trailer for Netflix’s teen-sleuth film, Enola Holmes has been released.
The movie, based on the book series from Nancy Springer, stars Millie Bobby Brown as Enola, the sister of Sherlock, who is investigating the disappearance of her mother.
The trailer has a very wacky, family-friendly vibe that seems inspired by Fleabag (Harry Bradbeer, the director worked on the series) and surprisingly, My Fair Lady with Enola being ‘educated’ by her brothers on how to be a “lady”.
With plenty of mischief, and the charm of Bobby Brown and Henry Cavil as the World’s Greatest Detective, Enola looks to be another hit for Netflix who have stepped up in delivering blockbuster level movies when there are none.
Enola Holmes is out September 23rd.
Ammonite
The first trailer for the Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan starring, Ammonite has been released.
The film sees Winslet’s fossil hunter paid to take on an apprentice, Ronan, whose husband worries for her mental health. The pair develop an intense, romantic relationship along the harsh English coast line.
Ammonite is directed and written by Francis Lee, whose previous film, God’s Own Country is a bleak but tender love story between two gay farmers in the York countryside.
If Country and this trailer are anything to go by, Lee’s 2nd film looks to be another aesthetically grim film with a heartfelt love story at the centre which will probably earn award nominations for the 2 female leads.
Ammonite is scheduled for 13th November and God’s Own Country is currently on Netflix.
Powerpuff Girls Gritty Reboot
Did sugar, spice and everything nice mean nothing?
Variety are reporting that The CW, the network behind Riverdale, is developing a live-action gritty take on The Powerpuff Girls, most likely in a similar vein to the crime-filled, fantastical Riverdale.
The Powerpuff Girls reboot will see the Girls as twentysomethings who are disdainful of their lost childhood instead spent fighting crime and who have gone their separate ways.
“Will they agree to reunite now that the world needs them more than ever” the article asks? Yes. The answer is yes otheriwse you don’t have a TV show.
The reboot is from Heather Regnier, who worked on iZombie, and the Veronica Mars reboot, and Diablo Cody who wrote Juno, Jennifer’s Body and Tully.
The series was just announced so no cast is confirmed but get ready for Bubbles to be a drug-addict, Blossom to suffer from depression and Buttercup to be a hardened Batman-style vigilante.
Mulan International Prices
Disney have confirmed the premium price for the live-action reboot of Mulan on Disney+, outside the US.
When it was announced that Mulan would premiere on Disney+, it came with a $30 USD price tag.
Now we know the price in other countries will be:
Australia: $35
New Zealand: $40
UK: £19.99
India: 1, 932 Rs
All of these prices, converted to USD are all less than $30 USD, at around $26 USD on average.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek said that Mulan will show in cinemas in countries that do not have a Disney+ rollout planned.
Mulan hits Disney+ September 4th, worldwide.
Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War Gameplay
At GamesCon 2020, a trailer for the newly titled Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War was released which showed off in-game gameplay.
The trailer is as typical as possible for a Call of Duty trailer with gruff sounding men saying generic ‘badass’ lines over the top of the action set pieces more at home in a Fast & Furious movie than a war setting. Oh, and that one remix of ‘Blue Monday’ by Health that is in anything related to the 80s now.
Let’s be real, no one cares about the campaign in a Call of Duty game; they’re in it for the multiplayer.
Details on Cold War’s multiplayer will be revealed soon, including a new Zombies, but what is confirmed is that the game will be cross-platform and cross-generational.
With the new game, there will be content that is accessible in Cold War multiplayer that is available in the free battle royale Call of Duty: Warzones.
Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War will be available November 13th.
Raya and the Last Dragon
EW have showed the first images to Disney Animation’s Raya and the Last Dragon which stars Kelly Marie Tran and Awkwafina.
Tran will play Raya, who sets out to help Sisu, voiced by Awkwafina, a dragon turned human, regain their power and their dragon form.
Tran replaces Cassie Steele, who was originally announced at the Disney convention, D23 Expo, last year.
The film was meant to begin production in March, but has since been developed from remote locations during the pandemic, pushing its release date further out from November 2020, to March 2021.
The animated film is directed by Don Hall (Moana, Big Hero 6) and Carlos Lopez Estrada (Blindspotting) and written by Adele Lim (Crazy Rich Asians) and playwrite Qui Nguyen.
Raya will be Disney’s first movie influenced by Southeast Asia and starring an actor of Southeast Asian heritage, Kelly Marie Tran.
Raya and the Last Dragon is out 21st March, 2021.
Resident Evil Netflix Series
Lastly, Netflix are developing a series based on the long-running horror video game franchise, Resident Evil.
The series will be eight-episodes and focus on two timelines revolving around the Wesker kids who move to New Racoon City and then later try to survive in the post-global zombie outbreak.
The series comes from Andrew Dabb (Supernatural) and is made in partner with Constantin Film, the studio behind the Milla Jovovich film franchise.
The series looks to be separate from the film series which ended in 2016 with Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, and closer to the game franchise than the movies were.
Dabb said, “For every type of Resident Evil fan, including those joining us for the first time, the series will be complete with a lot of old friends, and some things (bloodthirsty, insane things) people have never seen before”.
The name Wesker, is also a hint towards Albert Wesker, who is one of the game's villains and who plans humanity’s ‘evolution’ through the zombie virus outbreak.
Perhaps the series will follow Albert’s children or some relations to the franchise villain.
Resident Evil joins a recent line of video game franchises turned into Netflix series, including Beyond Good & Evil, Splinter Cell and The Witcher.